Care For Osteoarthritis Not In Line With Recommendations

HealthDay News -- The quality of osteoarthritis care is inadequate for all treatment domains, according to a meta-analysis published online in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.

Martin Basedow, MPH, and Adrian Esterman, PhD, from the University of South Australia in Adelaide, conducted a systematic review to examine the quality of osteoarthritis care using quality indicators (QIs). Fourteen high-quality studies were included in the review, which incorporated one to 21 QIs.

Four studies only examined the quality of osteoarthritis care, while 10 studies assessed health care quality for various conditions, including osteoarthritis.

The researchers found that for all treatment domains the quality of osteoarthritis care as assessed by meta-analysis of QI pass rates was suboptimal, with pass rates of 48.5% for pain and functional status assessment, 36.1 percent for non-drug treatment, 37.5% for drug treatment, and 78.9% for surgical referral.

"Despite efforts made at improving care for patients with osteoarthritis, the wide divergence between evidence and consensus-based recommended care and practice has been reaffirmed," the authors write.